KIKUUBE– The National Drug Authority [NDA] has launched a campaign in the Bunyoro region aimed at fighting hawking drugs in the communities, which the officials said is against the law but also dangerous to human health.
The NDA team is moving around the region engaging cultural leaders, managers of bus and taxi parks, local government and religious leaders, and market leaders to support the campaigns.
Fred Kabuye, the Communication officer at NDA, noted that the habit of hawking conventional drugs and herbal medicine is common in areas that attract a big number of the population such as land sites, bus and taxi parks, and markets among others.
He noted that there is an increasing challenge of hawking drugs in the western region that need concerted effort to control to ensure the safety of human and animal health.
He noted that herbal drugs are the most common drugs which are always hawked and that the people behind this act are not allowed and not qualified.
He noted that most of the hawked drugs are those which they claim to be treating Ulcers, Diabetes, pressure, and sexual stimulation drugs.
He noted that in their recent research, it was discovered that 65 percent of Ugandans use herbal medicine, with a considerable percentage buying drugs from the hawkers.
He noted that hawking drugs is illegal and that hawkers cheat people by selling them drugs which end up worsening their health.
He challenged the community to always buy drugs from NDA licensed drug shops, adding that if the population desists from consuming drugs from the streets, hawkers will have no business.
Enoch Ntulume, an officer working with NDA in the department of product assessment and registration and herbal unit said that hawking of the drugs is drailing their efforts to ensure that Ugandans consume safe drugs.
He noted that hawked drugs are dangerous to human life because the hawkers don’t observe the recommended storage standards.
Speaking on Friday during the press conference held at NDA regional offices in Hoima town, Ntulume noted that hawking drugs has a lot of challenges which include vending of counterfeit drugs, promoting irrational drug usage, and selling of drugs with narcotic substances among others.
“Hawking is one of the challenges because these hawkers don’t operate in one place. That means if a person receives treatment today, he will not be able to refer to the person who gave him the treatment,” he explained.
He noted that after conducting the awareness campaigns, the NDA team will embark on arresting the offenders.
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